ok.. so to begin with i hate fish... but... i'm trying to eat it more cause i know its good for me. so i was talking to a lady at the fish store and she suggested that i try basa (fresh water white fish) because it is very mild. but i don't see it in my list of proteins. does anyone know if we are allowed to have basa.. or is it off limits??

Michelle - I had never heard of basa...so I read a bit more about it and it's referred to as a catfish on most of the internet stuff I read. I would count it just like a whitefish, and it looks like most plans give you 4 or 5 oz (cooked). I'm a tilapia fan and, actually, as a kid we used to throw back the catfish we caught off the pier...so I don't think I'll be trying the basa anytime soon.

Oh, if you really HATE fish, not sure any fish is going to work for you. I like fish; I just don't like cooking it, but I LOVE Cassi's tilapia recipe that uses horseradish sauce. A gal at my local publix also taught me how to cook fish at home and I love it. While I do pan fry my fish, the mere fact that I am eating fish outweighs the little bit of oil I use for frying....

Here is my Publix Chef's secret recipe (eliminates any fishy taste or smell)

3 lg fish fillets
1/2 C bottled lemon juice
1/2 C cold water
2T extra dry Vermouth
Louisiana fish fry seasoning

Combine lemon juice and water
rinse fish in lemon water
drain on paper towl
coat fishw with seasoning
place in hot fry pann in which 3 T oild and small pat of butter has been added.
Add 1 T vermouth to each side of the pan (not on the fish). Cook until brown turning once, lower heat until done.

thanks joni,

my husband told me that tilapia is very fishy tasting.. so i'm kinda nervous about that one. i've managed to eat salmon a couple of times. which is pretty good considering. i was thinking i might try some halibut too.. see if i can manage that.. lol

Michelle, it's all about how you make the tilapia. I do mine with mayo and parmesan cheese and it tastes just like chicken. I personally find it less fishy than salmon. Also fresh tuna tastes just like pork.

Granted, I'm a fish person, and can eat it daily without a problem.

Michelle - I have always HATED fish, but recently I've found that I can eat tilapia if it's prepared correctly. I've tried salmon a couple of times, and I also find it to be more fishy tasting that tilapia. I haven't tried fresh tuna because the stuff in the can just turns me off so much. Icky!!

My husband loves fish, but I'm really picky about it. I hate "fishy" tasting fish, so I prefer very mild fishes overall (I do like catfish and bullhead which tastes a little "muddy" to me, they're about the strongest tasting fish I can tolerate).

I like haddock, cod, orange roughy and tilapia (haven't found that to be fishy unless it's really overcooked or not very fresh). In Illinois, what they call "perch," tastes horribly strong and fishy, but here in Wisconsin, "perch" tastes nice and mild. Salmon is kind of iffy for me.

Tuna in a can is not my favorite, but real tuna tastes so good, and non-fish like, I can even eat it raw in sushi! I would agree that fresh tuna cooks and tastes more like red meat than other fishes.

One of my favorite ways to make tilapia or other firm light fish is to dip it in ranch dressing or mayo, and then into bread or cracker crumbs. Then I bake it (I also do this with chicken and pork chops, it makes a yummy fake fried "shake and bake" type coating), at 325 - 350 until done (with fish you just have to check, sometimes a thin piece will be done in 15 minutes, other thicker pieces might take up to 30 minutes. For chicken and meat I start checking at 30 minutes.

thanks everyone... i'll consider trying the tilapia... i think its just a matter of getting it through my head that it'll be ok... lol

Colleen,

How do you count the tilapia when you do the shake & bake type thing you described - that sounds delish!

Michelle,

Do you have a Trader Joe's near you? If so they have a wonderful, very mild fish in their freezer section called White Roughy. It's in big white bags. It's very tender and mild. I'm not a fish person at all, but I really like that stuff.

Thanks for starting this thread. I got brave this week and bought turbot, white roughy and tilapia at Trader Joes this weekend. Our ground turkey supply will only last so long, so I *will* be eating fish this week.

Jenn,
I responded to the thread in New Posts, I didn't even realize this was an LAWL group. I'm not a member so I'm not sure how you would count it, but you might be able to figure it out if you do what I did when I was counting WW points (now I count carbs, so I'll have to do something similar).

I use fat free ranch or mayo (which I don't have to count, don't know about you), and garlic powder. Usually I use a ziploc bag so I only have to use about 1/2 tablespoon or less per serving (usually I just add 2-3 tablespoons to a bag of 4 -6 servings worth of fish). I squish it around in the bag to evenly coat the fish.

I count out my bread crumbs, I would estimate about 2- 3 tablespoons per large fish fillet. I try to err on the skimpy side so I don't have to waste the crumbs or wonder how much I threw way. I put the bread crumbs on the plate and dip the fish fillets in one at a time, turning them to coat. If I run out of bread crumbs, I'll add a couple more to the plate, and when I'm finished I do the math to figure out how many points (or now it will be carbs) go into the average fish fillet. With a little practice, I've gotten it down to where I throw away almost no bread crumbs. I've also used a tablespoon to pour the bread crumbs slowly over each side, so I know how much each filet takes and I can do the math that way.

Hope that helps.

never even heard of trader joe's... lol... i'm canadian eh!... lol

good for you for trying the fish thing too... its really tough when you don't like it.

Thanks Colleen - I bet the fish would be really tasty breaded with panko! I'm going to give that a try and count the crumbs as a starch and the dressing as a fat, if necessary.

Michelle - Ahhhh... yeah, sorry about that. I love TJ's, so I'm always recommending their stuff, forgetting that not everyone has one nearby. Good luck with the fish!

Panko would be great! I often use different coatings. Mashed potato flakes seasoned with some seasoning salt and garlic powder is really good, and so is cracker crumbs or even whole wheat chex crushed in the food processor.